A Boy and His Pet: The Saga of Nibbles
by uo-chou
Summary: Young Naruto longs for a pet, and one day finds an egg in the woods. Due to an unintentional infusion of the Kyuubi's chakra the egg is changed, twisted. When Naruto's pet hatches chaos is not far behind. Rated 'T' for dinosaurs, eye lasers, and language.
1. Chapter 1

A Boy and His Pet: The Saga of Nibbles

It was a cold, black night in Konoha, and five year old Naruto lay huddled beneath the thread-bare blankets beneath his bed, shivering slightly. The small apartment he had been moved into last week was completely silent, but for the slight rustling his blanket made as he shook from the cold.

He was curled into the fetal position, wrapped lovingly around his new possession, a large egg he had found on the outskirts of Konoha, on the ground. His young eyes had witnessed birds being born of eggs, and since he had first understood the concept he had desperately longed for a pet. Knowing of no other way to obtain one, he hoped that the thin shell of the large, spotted egg he had found would bear fruit, providing him with a companion to share his long, lonely days with.

Shortly before midnight, as Naruto's eyes were beginning to close, a loud noise rang through his meager home. By the light of the small candle he kept by his bedside, Naruto saw a pair of drunken villagers walk through his now-ruined door. They immediately spotted him on the other side of the one-room apartment, and grinning, menacingly approached.

"Well, lookit wha-what we have here, eh J-Jiro," one of the men slurred, pointing the lip of a foul smelling bottle at the young boy, "it's a little demon, getting his beauty shleep."

"You're right, Mitaku," said the other man who was presumably named Jiro.

"I say we give the little fox de-demon a gift, don't you?" Jiro leered at Naruto, and the boy began to whimper in fear, digging himself deeper under the covers. Both of his accouters seemed to find this hilarious, and belted out drunken gouts of laughter.

Mitaku now finished laughing and grinned maliciously. Tilting his head back, he chugged the remainder of the cheap liquor his bottle held and then, still smiling, he smashed the end on Naruto's night stand, leaving the end jagged and broken.

He leaned over the now-sobbing child, and prepared to drive his improvised weapon into the child's face. Before that could happen, several different things occurred in the space of a fraction of a second.

Something deep inside of Naruto awoke due to the mortal fear the child had felt. The Kyuubi immediately tapped into all of Naruto's senses, and replayed the entirety of his memory in the spam of less than a nanosecond, then using up another incredibly measure of time, sought about preventing his own demise by saving his host's life. He quickly re-arranged the structure of Naruto's eyes, not changing them in appearance, but in structure and function. He made able to see almost as well as the set of eyes he usually chose to wear while in human form, and modified them to be able to see the entirely electromagnetic spectrum, from radio, all the way through gamma rays. He subtly changed Naruto's brain to be able to interpret the new data his eyes would be feeding it, in the process making the boy's brain far more efficient than any living human's. All of this was incidental to the Kyuubi's true purpose, which was to allow Naruto to shoot concentrated beams of light-natured chakra from his eyes. In less than a blink of an eye all of the Bijuu's changes were complete. It then fed some of it's youki into the chakra pathways leading to Naruto's eyes.

In reality, less than half of a second had passed. Naruto felt a light burning in his eyes, and then the world exploded with new colors and objects. _Everything_ was now visible! He could even see through his attacker and beyond that his apartment walls! The next thing he knew, the world was colored yellow, and his attacker weapon was melted into liquid glass, which then splashed back onto his hand, arm, and face. The molten glass hissed as it hardened almost instantly.

At the same time, two shuriken, spinning so fast they were shrieking, screamed through the air and severed Mitaku's hand at the wrist, causing the scalded hand to fly from the stump and impact the wall. The handle of a kunai suddenly sprouted from the base of Jiro's skull, and he fell to the ground, silent. Mitaku began to scream, clutching the end of his arm, which was now spraying blood like a geyser.

A fine mist of liquid life coated Naruto's face, bathing him in a sticky sea of red. It was too much for the young boy to take, and he lost consciousness. It was just as well; He hadn't seen Jiro die, and in the next second Mitaku joined him in his fate.

A masked shinobi jumped from the shadows, and quickly verified that both men were dead. He had been _nearly_ sure, but in his business it didn't pay to take chances, even when dealing with civilians. Neither of the men had a pulse, and both had already lost so much blood that they would have been dead for the loss of it.

The masked ninja smiled from behind his mask, and then tapped the radio headset clipped onto his left ear.

"Horse reporting in, I am at the residence of protective target "J". There has been a code sixteen, repeat, an assassination has been attempted on target "J". Target is secure, and not in need of emergency medical attention, the two perpetrators are dead. Please acknowledge, and provide further instructions."

A few seconds his radio chirped, letting him know his report had been received, and that the target was to be brought to Konoha General Hospital for a post-action examination while the perpetrators were removed and the apartment cleaned. Internal-Security Agent, codenamed Horse, of the Konoha ANBU slung Uzumaki Naruto over his shoulder and leapt out of the windows, toward the hospital.

Horse had not noticed that when he picked up Naruto, and egg, previously clutched tightly in the youngster's hand, had rolled away under the covers. He had also failed to notice that what had once been merely a bird's egg, was now glowing a bright, ethereal red.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Well, well, well. This is going to be a doozy, isn't it? Just what is "Nibbles", and exactly what happened to that egg after all? Curious? Keep reading. Hehe.


	2. Chapter 2

A Boy and His Pet: The Saga of Nibbles

Chapter II

It had over a week since the "incident" as all the adults insisted on calling the night he was almost murdered, and Uzumaki Naruto was fed up! He had been subjected to rigorous amounts of testing, and in the end it was discovered that he had a bloodline of sorts. The team of medical ninjas who examined him explained that it was a little like another bloodline limit in Konoha, the white eye of the Hyuuga, but mostly it was unique. Naruto didn't know what "infrared light" or "microwaves" were, but apparently he could now perceive them with his eyes, unlike any other human alive. The medical team brought in several scientists, who helped him put names to all of the new things he could see. They were all _extremely_ excited that he could actually perceive subatomic particles and exotic radiation, and Naruto was sure any one of them would have taken him home to become a human science instrument were it not for the presence of his ANBU security guards.

After agent Horse's report, they were able to determine that his eyes could also emit some kind of energy capable of melting a glass bottle into molten slag in less than a second. The Sandaime himself taught Naruto how to channel chakra into his eyes and to both of their surprise, a small beam of chakra emerged, searing a hole in the wall he was looking toward at the time, barely missing Sarutobi's head. His "eye lasers", as Naruto dubbed them, were just about the coolest thing he had ever imagined, though he was extremely disappointed when the Hokage forbid him from using them in spars at the Konoha ninja academy he was set to join next year.

After getting the measure of Naruto's new abilities and making sure he could control them, he was discharged from the hospital and sent home. Upon walking through the door, Naruto suddenly remembered something very important. Frantically, he rushed to his bed, and rooted around under the covers in desperation, until he found what he was looking for! The egg, his egg! He pulled it out, and sat it down on his pillow to get a good look at it. It was at least two or three times as big as he remembered it being, and now it was a bright red (though no longer glowing). Before it had been able to fit in one of Naruto's tiny palms; now it took both of his hands together to pick it up. The egg, despite being on it's own for over seven days, was not only warm, but hot to the touch. Naruto could feel the heat radiating off of it in waves, and was extremely glad that it was still alive.

XXXXX

Naruto didn't let the egg out of his sight, or touch, for the next two weeks. In that time it continued to grow, eventually becoming larger than his pillow. It got to the point that the small boy could no longer carry it around. He took to spending long periods of time on his bed with the egg, talking to it, or singing it songs that he had heard from other people or made up. He lavished the egg with all of the attention that he had longed for throughout his short but sad life.

Finally, inevitably, the egg hatched. It was a Saturday, just before dawn, when the first crack appeared. Naruto was asleep at the time, but the insistent movements of the egg beside him woken him up. He scrambled into a sitting position, and began to chant words of encouragement to the emerging "bird".

"You can do it birdie!" shouted Naruto, "Come out and meet your daddy!"

The egg formed more cracks, and began to rock harder. Naruto feared it would roll onto the floor, so he wrapped his small legs and arms around it to keep it secure. Suddenly, the top of the shell burst apart, and a feathered head emerged, staring directly into the blond child's eyes.

"Cheep?" asked the feathery, lizard-like animal. Naruto smiled in pure joy, and help his new friend escape from the rest of its shell.

When the entirety of the animal was uncovered, it was far different than any bird Naruto had ever seen or heard of. It looked like a cross between a bird and a lizard, and stood knee height to him. It had feathers, but they were downy, almost like fur, and well, unpronounced. There were real feathers on its wings, at least, which were a bit smaller than Naruto would have expected to see on a bird this size. There was also the matter of the enormous curved claw on each of its feet; they looked downright lethal. Naruto decided not to let his pet's fearsome appearance put him off. People looked down on him for some reason, and he decided to give this new life every opportunity to prove itself.

The first day of parenthood (even if it was just being a pet-parent) was incredible trying. Within the first ten minutes, Naruto had discovered that his new bird was incredibly hungry. He had presented the animal with everything in his fridge and cupboards, and it had all been consumed. Over a month of food, gone is less than five minutes! The new baby was incredibly playful as well, running around the small apartment, climbing onto the dining-room table, and drinking from the toilet. After tearing all of Naruto's bath towels to shreds it had finally settled down, due mostly to Naruto singing it a song. It seemed to recognize Naruto's voice from it's time in the egg, and happily followed the boy's commands after that.

Because of its immense appetite and its propensity to tear things apart with it rows of razor sharp teeth, Naruto decided to name his new pet 'Nibbles'. After laying Nibbles down for a nap, Naruto gazed over the ruins of his apartment mournfully. He realized that he would need some help, he had no clue how to raise a pet, and no money to feet Nibbles' voracious appetite. He decided to visit the Hokage.

Naruto, having seen other people walking their dogs on leashes, made a quick tether for Nibbles out of an old piece of rope he had found in the trash months ago. He sternly told Nibbles to be a good bird, and not tug on the rope or make trouble, and then exited his apartment. Walking down the streets of Konoha, Naruto was surprised at the extreme reactions he was getting. Usually people pointedly ignored him, or sometimes spit in his path, but today was different. People were looking at him oddly, fearfully, and when they dared to lay eyes on Nibbles directly many of them went pale and fled. The young blonde didn't know what to make of it.

"Haven't you people ever seen a bird before?!" he had tried asking, at one point. No one responded though. Shrugging at their idiocy, he led Nibbles to the Hokage tower. At the entrance, he met with some resistance, namely the two chuunin guards at the main doors.

"What is the seven levels of Hell is that?!" asked Izumo, one of the guards, while pointing at nibbles.

Naruto cocked an eye at him, looking bemused. He had honestly thought that ninjas were smarter than civilians. "He's my bird, Nibbles. I want to show him to the old man. Say "hi" to Izumo, Nibbles!" Nibbles obligingly turned toward Izumo and 'smiled', displaying row upon row of razor sharp fangs.

Izumo recoiled as if struck, and backed into his partner Kotetsu, who had erstwhile been taking a nap reclining against the doorjamb of the tower. Kotetsu awoke startled, and arms flailing, causing both chuunin to fall onto the floor, Izumo shrieking loudly while Kotetsu thrashed and muttered curse words. Naruto shot them a disgusted look, and he and Nibbles walked over them and into the tower.

The Hokage's civilian secretary let him in no problem, he face pale and sweat dripping from her brow. He entered Sarutobi's office, grinning proudly. The old ninja looked up from the scroll he was reading. He stared at the young blonde, his eyes wide. His pipe fell from the corner of his mouth.

"Hey Old Man!" shouted Naruto, "Meet my new pet bird, Nibbles!"

"Naruto…" the Hokage asked slowly, "Where did you get a dinosaur?" He had never, for the life of him, imagined he would say those word to anyone.

"A what-a sore? It's a bird, Old Man, I hatched him from an egg."

Sarutobi goggled.

XXXXX

Author's Note: So Nibbles is a dinosaur! What type is he, though? Take a guess, his species and more details will be provided in the next chapter. Read and review please.


	3. Chapter 3

A Boy and His Pet: The Saga of Nibbles

Chapter III

Having a pet Utahraptor isn't easy. The only person in the history of mankind who could definitively state this was one Uzumaki Naruto, and he did, frequently, to anyone within listening range.

"Having a pet Utahraptor isn't easy!" said 12-year old Uzumaki Naruto, for the third time that morning, as he walked through the Konoha marketplace riding on said creature's back. The crowd gave him and his 9-foot tall, 20-foot long pet a wide berth, no so afraid as they used to be. Over time the massive theropod had become a fixture in the city, and several of the villagers had even taking a liking to the gentle beast. Naruto constantly reminded Nibbles that Konoha people weren't for eating, and the intelligent animal had loyally overcome it's instinct to gobble up everyone in sight on the order of it's master and friend.

There had been a few mishaps over the years, like the time Nibbles had eaten half of the Nara's herd of deer, which they all still loathed him for. If Naruto didn't make so much money selling the potent venom that he milked from Nibble's enormous claws, he would probably still be working for them now, to pay off the debt. The Nara in his class, Shikamaru, glared at him constantly and refused to speak with him.

There was also the time Nibbles had got in a fight with a pack of the Inuzuka dogs in one of the forest training grounds. It had nearly been a disaster, but an intervention by Naruto and the head of the Inuzuka clan had prevented any serious injuries on both sides. There was somewhat of a rivalry between Naruto and the Inuzuka even before that; The Inuzuka claimed that Naruto shouldn't be allowed to use Nibbles as a ninja tool, as they did their dogs because the dinosaur was too dangerous. Everyone who was sensible, though, knew that they considered him somewhat of a threat, as Nibbles could outperform an Inuzuka dog in every respect, even tracking. Naruto viewed it as silly, and just ignored the dog wielding clan.

That wasn't to say that he didn't learn a thing or two from the Inuzuka. After his first year at the academy, Kiba, his Inuzuka classmate, had taken to showing up with his nin-ken, Akamaru. Naruto had been hotly jealous, and had spent weeks researching the necessary statutes and filling out the requisite forms to grant Nibbles status as a ninja tool. He had filled out all of the paperwork in triplicate, and presented a copy to both the Hokage and to Iruka sensei. Both of them tried to talk him out of it, but he held firm to his resolve, and by the same law that granted an exemption to the Inuzuka, he had been able to bring his pet to the academy with him, and even use him in spars if he so desired (not that he ever did, Naruto had no desire to see any of his classmates mauled or killed).

The Inuzuka had also helped him in another way, something that he would never share with anyone, lest he be expelled from the ninja ranks. He had spied on the Inuzuka, and stolen on of their most valuable clan techniques. It was the jutsu which bound a nin-ken to a specific individual for life, linking their minds and allowing master and beast to communicate with each other and share some of their abilities. Naruto had spied on Inuzuka Kikyo, one of Kiba's distant cousins, undergoing the ritual, and had burned every detail into his nearly perfect memory. The next time there was a full moon, one of the prerequisites for the ritual, Naruto had performed it on Nibbles and himself.

The next day, he woke up in a pool of his own shit, piss, and vomit at the spot in the woods where he did the bonding technique. Nibbles was similarly ill, and could barely walk when he roused the thunder lizard. The ritual had worked, however, both could tell right away. Nibbles had always been able to understand Naruto, to one degree or another, but now they could actually _converse_. They didn't need to talk out loud, either, like the Inuzuka did. They could communicate solely in each other's minds. Distance didn't seem to matter, either. They tested their communication, and even several miles away from each other they could her one another's mind clear as a bell.

Nibbles was also smarter now; At least as intelligent as Naruto, and that was saying something. He no longer had the urge toward mindless violence and destruction now that he knew what kind of trouble it caused for his master, though his ravenous appetite remained.

Arguably the most important change was that now Nibbles could use chakra. All animals had chakra, or course, just like all humans did. But without the proper training, they could no more use it than civilians could. With Nibbles new intelligence, and guidance from Naruto, they began inventing ways for the Utahraptor to use his chakra in novel ways, and came up with several worthwhile techniques.

That was years ago, though, and since then the teamwork and skills of the pair had become legendary, master and pet each pushing each other harder, higher, until Naruto was the number one rookie in his class, ahead of even Uchiha Sasuke, a tragic survivor of a massacre that had claimed over half of his clan. More would have been lost, probably, except that Nibbles and Naruto had been out hunting that night, when the Utahraptor had smelled human blood on the air, and alerted his rider.

They had bounded over to the Uchiha compound, and found Uchiha Itachi in the process of slaughtering his family. The then eight-year old Naruto had used the only combination ninjutsu he had made at that point, a blatant rip-off of one of the Inuzuka family techniques, transforming he and his nin-dinosaur into a giant 2-headed Tyranosaurus-rex. Towering over the walls of the compound, both heads roared at Itachi, causing the youngest ANBU captain in history to drop his blood-dripping ninja-to and flee the village. Naruto gave chase, but his meager (compared to most kages) chakra reserves could only hold the technique for around thirty minutes while running flat out and enhancing his speed with chakra to keep up the with doujutsu wielding prodigy.

Once the ANBU caught up to him, and the technique was dispelled, he was brought before the Hokage and the one remaining survivor of the Uchiha-clan council in order to give an explanation of what had occurred.

After explaining what had happened, Naruto learned that Itachi had places genjutsu seals and containers of time-released knockout gas around the entire Uchiha compound, and had used the disorientation those provided to mercilessly slaughter any and all members of his clan that he had come across. No other member of the Uchiha wore a gas-filtering ANBU mask as he did, so if Naruto hadn't come along it was likely that the entire clan would have been wiped out. From that day forth, Naruto was considered a Hero of the Uchiha clan, and an honorary member. Shimi-san, the last Uchiha elder, even tried to betroth him to a pretty civilian Uchiha girl, but Naruto blushingly had declined. He still got a letter about once a month asking him to marry into the clan, but he always sent a polite letter back refusing, citing his desire to marry for love rather than politics. The Uchiha were very gracious about it, after all they all owed their lives to him.

Naruto found his treatment by everyone in the village was much improved after that. He was allowed to buy things at reasonable prices, and the harassment and taunting stopped. There was always a friendly policeman watching over him, after all the Uchiha were the village police, and anyone who ignored the unstated order that Uzumaki Naruto be left alone found themselves in for a nice long stay in one of Konoha's lockups.

'The best part of it all, though,' thought Naruto, 'Is that Uchiha Sasuke always calls me Naruto-sama now!' He chuckled at that. It was funny, too, how honestly the stuck-up boy said it, like Naruto was some sort of mythical figure. It might have been something to do with the fact that the person who was in the process of being murdered when Naruto intervened was Sasuke's Mother, Uchiha Mikoto. Sasuke loved his mother very much, in a slightly clingy way, especially now that his father was dead by his brother's hands.

Naruto pulled himself from his musings as he reached the Konoha Ninja Academy. Today was the day of the final exams, and he aimed to pass. He had decided against taking the exams early, like some chose to do… The early tests were intentionally made harder, as the instructors wanted students to pass as a class, in order to further the Konoha philosophy of teamwork. Naruto didn't doubt that he could have passed them, but he definitely wanted to be on a genin cell with people he knew, and that wouldn't have happened if he passed one of the early tests.

Before entering the school he dismounted Nibbles and both of them gathered a small amount of chakra. Naruto made four hand-seals, then pushed his now-glowing palm into Nibbles' massive feathered chest. "Kyouryuu henge no jutsu!" he cried.

Nibbles glowed briefly, then suddenly shrank to the size he had been at birth, a mere two and a half feet tall. Boy and dinosaur walked into the academy amidst the other students. None of them showed any surprise at a boy riding a supposedly extinct creature, or the complex combination jutsu; they saw the same thing every day, after all.

Arriving in the classroom, Naruto noted that he was the last one to arrive, save for a few annoying fan girls. His fan girls; namely Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. They used to be Sasuke fan girls, considering him the "creepy dinosaur kid", but after he had defeated Sasuke a few times in spars and taken the lead as number one student in the class they had turned tail on the Uchiha and started to compete for his affection. Naruto couldn't have been more sickened if he tried. Love, a thing he had only experienced from two individuals, the Hokage and Nibbles, was a sacred thing to him. He understood that a schoolyard crush wasn't love, but to suddenly shift your affections from one person to another at the drop of a hat just because someone is a better ninja; that was disgusting to him.

A true believer in proper manners (especially after old Uchiha Mizuzu had nearly beaten them into him during the 'etiquette lessons' the sharingan-wielding clan had tricked him into accepting), Naruto couldn't bring himself to tell the two sycophantic girls how he actually felt, settling for giving them the cold shoulder and never speaking to them. The blonde and the pinkette played it off as if he was distant and cool, but they found it a hard façade to hold, as Naruto was much warmer to everyone else. Ah, the self-delusions of youth!

Today, Naruto selected his usual spot in the front, next to Aburame Shino, one of his friends, and Uchiha Sasuke, who smiled warmly and greeted him with a happy, "Good morning, Naruto-sama". Naruto smiled back at the raven haired boy, and greeted him politely as well. It was nice to be appreciated. As usual, Nibbles settled between Naruto's feet, curling up in a feathers ball against the chill of the morning. He was warm blooded, but his feathers gave him scant protection from the cold, especially in his smaller size. When he was nine, Naruto had tried to get Nibbles to wear a sweater, but the proud beast had refused, and reduced the enormous garment to ashes using his fire-breath, one of the techniques that Naruto and he had come up with together in order to simulate the dragons of legend.

Shortly before class started, two screeching fangirls slammed into each other trying to get into the classroom at the same time. They bounced across the floor before picking themselves up. They stood dumfounded, as they noted that both of the seats next to Naruto were filled, as well as the two directly about him in the classroom's stadium-style seating. Hanging their heads dejectedly, they sat down in two of the empty seats in the room. Naruto smirked.

Soon, Iruka-sensei, their teacher for the past two years entered the classroom. "Welcome to your final day as students at this academy! Yesterday you finished both the marksmanship and taijutsu evaluations, and today you will complete the ninjutsu portion of the exams. Anyone who passes will receive a Konoha headband and become a genin of the village. Anyone who fails will have the option of repeating the year and re-testing for up to three more times. We will start alphabetically this year, so Aburame Shino, please follow me to the testing room adjacent to this classroom. Shino tensed for a moment, but Naruto and Sasuke both shot him encouraging grins, and the bug user straightened his back and followed the chuunin instructor from the classroom.

Shortly, very shortly, Shino returned to the classroom sporting a shiny new hitai-ate. Most of the class looked relieved, as Shino didn't appear to be adversely affected, and the test had been very short. Soon, student after student was called back, and the vast majority came back wearing the symbol of the Leaf. The few who didn't pass never came back; Naruto suspected that they had left via a different exit, not wanting to share their shame with the rest of the students. Soon, it was Naruto's turn.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" called a voice from the testing room. Naruto walked back, to be faced with a seated Umino Iruka and Mizuki, no last name (that Naruto had ever heard). The clanless weren't rare in Konoha.

"Naruto," said Iruka, "Please perform the bunshin-no-jutsu. You must create at least two clones." Iruka's face was stern, there was no love lost between him and the blonde. Naruto didn't know why, but the man had always been quite cold to him. Mizuki was just the opposite, warm and appreciative, but Naruto suspected that had something to do with the undisguised fear he had of Nibbles.

Naruto made the requisite hand-seals and performed a decent bunshin technique. Suddenly there were nearly one hundred copies of Naruto crowding the small room, each of them a mirror image of the original. Naruto still couldn't get the number to less than twenty, even when he concentrated especially hard. It had taken him forever to discover that the reason that he was initially failing at the technique was that he was trying to cram a huge amount of chakra into just two or three clones. With time, he learned that he needed to create the right amount of clones based on how much chakra he infused into the technique. It had taken some encouragement from both Nibbles and from Uchiha Cicada, an old retired ninja who enjoyed tutoring Naruto in ninjutsu on occasion to discover what he was doing wrong. He had also worked tirelessly to improve his chakra control by walking on wall, water, and even fire (an old Uchiha-family secret for increasing chakra control) before he was even able to do the clone technique at all. Even with all of the training and help he would probably never be able to make less than a dozen clones; thus was the nature of being a chakra powerhouse.

Iruka and Mizuki both were very impressed, though neither showed it. They were used to seeing amazing feats from the rookie-of-the-year, after all. Both teachers nodded in acceptance. Mizuki spoke, his eyes on the Utahraptor eyeing him wearily from near Naruto's feet. "Very good Uzumaki-kun. Next, perform the replacement technique."

Naruto smiled. The replacement technique was his personal favorite of the "Academy Three", and by far the most useful in combat. He had worked tirelessly on it since he had first been introduced to the jutsu, and had managed to learn how to use it without hand-seals or spoken invocation. He was even able to switch himself with things of widely dissimilar mass, something not many other ninjas could boast of. Deprived of learning any other truly useful ninjutsu techniques besides the henge, he had perfected the replacement into a work of art.

Naruto slowly crouched down low, then withdrew a kunai and pointed it straight ahead. Both of the instructors looked at him quizzically. Iruka seemed to be about to say something, but before he could Naruto quickly and silently replaced himself with the clipboard Iruka was holding. His kunai was less than an inch from Iruka's throat. Before Iruka could even begin to respond, Naruto again replaced himself with the clipboard, bringing himself and the inanimate object he had used for the jutsu back to their original positions.

Neither teacher could speak for a few seconds. As Naruto was putting his kunai back in its holster, a confused grin broke out on Iruka's face. "Excellent use of the replacement technique, Naruto! I don't think I've ever seen it used so well, even by jounin!"

Naruto smiled, "Well, it is my specialty, among the academy ninjutsu at least."

Iruka's smiled faded slowly, as he seemed to realize who he was talking to. Not just some academy student, but one toward which he held no liking. "Well, all that is left is the henge. Naruto, please transform into the likeness of Mizuki."

Mizuki obligingly stood up, allowing Naruto to get a good look. He still had to perform hand-seals for the henge, but he was still excellent with the skill, seeing many benefits to its use. He made the seals, and transformed into Mizuki without even a whiff of smoke appearing. He got the man's likeness down to a very precise detail. Possibly only Mizuki's mother or love could tell the difference between the two. Both of the teachers nodded to each other, and then Mizuki asked Naruto to release the technique.

"Naruto…" said Iruka, "You pass! Full marks, plus bonus points for the extra clones and the seal-less replacement technique. You really are the rookie of the year, aren't you?" Naruto smiled back at the cold look his teacher gave him, pick up a headband from the pile, and hightailed it out of there. He had no desire to be around someone who obviously didn't like him. He had never figured out why the chuunin felt that way about him, either. It was somewhat disconcerting.

Later that night, Naruto and Nibbles lay down in the bed of hay in the old barn the Hokage had gifted him after Nibbles outgrew his old apartment. Apparently it had used to belong to a farmhouse on the same property, but the house had burned down long ago. The Hokage had been able to but it cheap, and Naruto had worked to pay him back using his orphan's stipend and the money he made from milking Nibbles venom, finally finishing the repayment last year. Naruto now owned over five acres of forest and a fine barn at the west edge of Konoha, just within her walls. It wasn't the nicest property, but it was his, and he loved it. He had been able to make a lot of renovations to the building over time, and now it fairly shined with cleanliness, no longer looking like the manure-soiled near ruin it had once been.

Nibbles appreciated the space and the location as well. The Utahraptor could stretch out while still indoors, and the forest beyond the nearest gate provided amble game to feed the bird-like animal's enormous appetite.

Content with their day and looking forward to the team placements tomorrow, the boy and his pet fell asleep that night, happy.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Ok, so this is a fucking huge chapter (for me). I hope you enjoyed it, I liked tossing in a lot of random details, and messing with the canon storyline. It was quite fun. Please read and review, I'm like a fat, hungry Italian man, and reviews are like delicious spaghetti to me.


End file.
